Ultra scalable high speed heterojunction vertical n-channel MISFETs and methods thereof

ABSTRACT

A method for forming and the structure of a strained vertical channel of a field effect transistor, a field effect transistor and CMOS circuitry is described incorporating a drain, body and source region on a sidewall of a vertical single crystal semiconductor structure wherein a hetero-junction is formed between the source and body of the transistor, wherein the source region and channel are independently lattice strained with respect to the body region and wherein the drain region contains a carbon doped region to prevent the diffusion of dopants (boron) into the body. The invention reduces the problem of leakage current from the source region via the hetero-junction and lattice strain while independently permitting lattice strain in the channel region for increased mobility via choice of the semiconductor materials.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/735,711 filed Apr. 16, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No.7,453,113.

This application is cross referenced to U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/463,039 filed Jun. 17, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,943,407 by Q. Ouyangand Jack O. Chu, the inventors herein, filed herewith, entitled “LowLeakage Heterojunction Vertical Transistors and High Performance DevicesThereof” which is directed to a vertical p-channel MOSFET which isincorporated herein by reference and assigned to the assignee herein.

This application is further cross referenced to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/462,933, filed Jun. 17, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,927,414,by Q. Ouyang and Jack O. Chu, the inventors herein, filed herewith,entitled “High Speed Lateral Heterojunction MISFETS Realized by2-dimensional Bandgap Engineering and Methods Thereof” which is directedto lateral heterojunction MISFETs which is incorporated herein byreference and assigned to the assignee herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to semiconductor transistors and, moreparticularly, to a metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistor(MISFET) consisting of a conducting channel which has no hetero-barrierin the current flow direction and a heterojunction between thesource/drain and body (bulk) of the transistor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Silicon MOSFET scaling has become a major challenge in the semiconductorindustry. Traditional techniques start to fail in reducing certainundesirable physical effects as device dimensions shrink down to thenanometer regime. For example, anti-punchthrough (APT) or haloimplantation is used to reduce the short-channel effects (SCE). However,the abrupt doping profiles are difficult to achieve due to temperatureenhanced diffusion, and these highly doped channels or pocket implantregions increase junction capacitance and band-to-band tunneling. It hasbeen shown by S. Thompson, et al., in “MOS scaling: transistorchallenges for the 21st century,” Intel Technology Journal, Q3, 1998,that channel engineering can only decrease the circuit gate delay by˜10% for a given technology, and it cannot provide channel lengthscaling for generation after generation that gate oxide and source/drain(S/D) junction depth scaling has provided.

With bandgap engineering, an important degree of freedom can be providedin the device design. The growth of high-quality tensile strainedSi/SiGe and compressively strained SiGe/Si heterostructures by molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE), various types of chemical vapor deposition (CVD),and/or ion implantation allows incorporation of bandgap engineeringconcepts into a mature silicon technology.

Bandgap engineering has been utilized to realize various types ofheterojunction field effect transistors (HFETs). The most widely studiedis the modulation doped field effect transistors (MODFET), in which aquantum well is used to confine the carriers in a lightly dopedsemiconductor (See K. Ismail, “Si/SiGe High-Speed Field-EffectTransistors”, IEDM, Technology Digest, p. 509-512, 1995). Higher carriermobility can be achieved due to reduced impurity scattering, reducedsurface roughness scattering in the buried channel, and strained-inducedmobility enhancement, if any, depending on the hetero material systememployed. Derived from the same concept, various types ofheterostructure CMOS devices have also been proposed and studied (See M.A. Armstong, et al., “Design of Si/SiGe Heterojunction ComplementaryMetal-Oxide Semiconductor Transistors”, IEDM Technology Digest, p.761-764, 1995; S. Imai et al., “Si—SiGe Semiconductor Device and Methodof Fabricating the Same”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,419; and M. Kubo, et al.,“Method of Forming HCMOS Devices with a Silicon-Germanium-Carboncompound Semiconductor Layer”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,975, Feb. 20, 2001.)The advantage of these devices is the higher carrier mobility and hencehigh drive current and high speed. However, two prominent problems stillremain in these planar devices: device scaling and control ofshort-channel effects.

In planar FET devices, the channel length is limited by lithography.This problem can be solved if the devices are fabricated in a verticalfashion, in which case the channel length is only determined byepitaxial techniques. Similarly, the diffusion problem of boron andphosphorus in the source/drain can be reduced by introducing thin SiGeClayers in the source/drain to achieve ultra scalable verticaltransistors, as shown by Y. Ming, et al., in “25-nm p-Channel verticalMOSFET's with SiGeC source-drains”, IEEE, Electron Device Letters, vol.20, no. 6, 1999, and by H. Rücker et al., in “Dopant diffusion inC-doped Si and SiGe: physical model and experimental verification,”IEDM, Technical Digest, p. 345-8, 1999.

As for short-channel effects, other than ultra-steep retrograded channelprofiles and ultra-shallow source/drain junctions, silicon-on-insulator(SOI) has been used to control short-channel effects. However, SOI doesnot remove short-channel effects completely, and an inherent problemwith SOI is the floating body effect. Another way to reduce theshort-channel effect is to have a built-in energy barrier at thesource/body junction, and in particular a barrier where the barrierheight does not depend on the applied bias. The band offset provided bya heterojunction is very suitable in this case. A heterojunction MOSFET(HJMOSFET) has been proposed and studied by S. Hareland, et al., in “Newstructural approach for reducing punchthrough current in deepsubmicrometer MOSFETs and extending MOSFET scaling,” IEEE ElectronicsLetters, vol. 29, no. 21, pp. 1894-1896, October 1993, and by X. D.Chen, et al., in “Vertical P-MOSFETS with heterojunction betweensource/drain and channel,” Device Research Conference, Denver, June2000.

A p-channel/n-channel, complementary vertical MISFET device and aspecific application of such devices in dynamic random access memory(DRAM) are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,088, No. 6,207,977, No.5,963,800, and No. 5,914,504, respectively. A heterojunction is utilizedat the source/channel junction in the vertical devices. Even though veryshort channels may be achieved and short-channel effects may be reduced,there is still a big drawback with such device structures. At the offstate (i.e., zero bias at the gate and high bias at the drain), thehetero-barrier is useful in reducing the drain-induced barrier lowering(DIBL), bulk punchthrough and therefore, off-state leakage current.However, at the on state (i.e., high bias at the gate and drain), thebuilt-in hetero-barrier becomes harmful to the drive current. This isbecause the hetero-barrier at the source/channel junction severelyblocks the thermal emission of the carriers from the source into thechannel. The only way for carrier injection is the quantum mechanicaltunneling across the barrier, which becomes the bottleneck of thetransport in the channel.

The so-called ballistic transport after crossing the barrier in thechannel mentioned in these references will not occur due to strongsurface roughness scattering. Therefore, the drive current in suchdevices is significantly reduced. Additionally, since a part of thesource (close to the channel) of such a device is undoped, the drivecurrent will be further reduced by high series resistance in the source.A detailed study has been performed by Q. Ouyang, et al., in“Two-Dimensional Bandgap Engineering in Novel pMOSFETs,” SISPAD, SeattleSeptember, 2000, and by X. D. Chen, et al., in “Vertical P-MOSFETS withheterojunction between source/drain and channel”, Device ResearchConference, Denver, June, 2000.

Recently, a lateral high mobility, buried, p-channel heterojunctiontransistor (HMHJT) has been proposed by Q. Ouyang, et al., in U.S. Pat.No. 6,319,799B1. A detailed simulation study has been performed by Q.Ouyang, et al., in “A Novel Si/SiGe Heterojunction pMOSFET with ReducedShort-Channel Effects and Enhanced Drive Current,” IEEE Transactions onElectron Devices, 47 (10), 2000. The device has been realized using avertical structure by Q. Ouyang, et al., in “Fabrication of a NovelVertical pMOSFET with Enhanced Drive Current and Reduced Short-ChannelEffects and Floating Body Effects”, VLSI Symposium, Kyoto, June 2001. Inthis case, compressively strained SiGe on Si is used to realize a highperformance pMOSFET. However, in order to realize circuits usingcomplementary MOSFETs, a high-performance, vertical nMOSFET is alsoneeded. In the present invention, we propose a heterojunction nMOSFET,which has low leakage and high drive current. Six embodiments areillustrated and the methods thereof are also described.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,088 describes a “High Electron Mobility Transistor”.This device has a pair of semiconductor layers for source/drainelectrodes consisting of a poly SiGe layer and a poly Si layer so as toform a partially projected “overhanging-shape” over the active area. Inthis case, the source/drain and the gate are self-aligned. However, itis a planar structure and still suffers from the short-channel effects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of this invention is to provide a device structure thathas superb performance and scalability. By using 2-dimensional bandgapengineering, the tradeoffs in the conventional Si technology can beavoided, and the drive current and leakage current can be optimizedindependently. Consequently, very high drive current and excellentturn-off characteristics can be achieved simultaneously. Moreover, thesuppression of short-channel effects in such a device further allowscontinuous and more aggressive scaling of the MOSFET technology.

This invention describes a n-channel MISFET structure having theseadvantages with various embodiments. Another aspect of this invention isthe process integration for such devices. The devices described in thisinvention have at least a hetero-barrier between the source and the bodyof the transistor, however, no hetero-barrier in the channel along thecurrent flow direction. Drain induced barrier lowering is substantiallyreduced due to the hetero-barrier at the source junction, hence, thesubsthreshold swing and off-state leakage are reduced. Meanwhile, thedrive current is not limited by quantum mechanical tunneling since thereis no hetero-barrier in the channel. Therefore, with these devices, veryhigh on/off ratio can be achieved. Such devices are superb for highspeed, low leakage and low power applications, such as DRAM, laptopcomputers, and wireless communications.

Any hetero-material systems with the proper band offset may be used torealize the device concept such as silicon-based or III-V materialsystems. Since silicon technology is the most mature, silicon basedmaterials are the most economically feasible and attractive. There aretwo Si-based heterostructures which have the suitable band offset forelectrons in nMISFETs. One is tensile strained Si or SiGe on relaxedSiGe buffer layers, and the other is tensile strainedSi_(1-x-y)Ge_(x)C_(y) on relaxed Si. With each material system, thechannel could be a surface channel or a buried quantum well channel.

The carrier mobility depends not only on the strain in the crystal, butalso on crystal orientation. A recent study showed that hole mobility isenhanced significantly on a (110) substrate along <110> direction, whilethe electron mobility remains highest on a (100) substrate along <100>direction for devices with a gate oxide less than 2 nm and a gate lengthless than 150 nm. Therefore, all the embodiments in the presentinvention have a channel preferably in (100) plane and along <100>direction.

In the present invention, six embodiments for a vertical n-channeltransistor, are illustrated. The fabrication method for each embodimentis also described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described in more details thereinafter relative tonon-limitative embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is an energy band diagram of tensile strained SiC on cubic Si.

FIG. 2 is an energy band diagram of tensile strained Si on relaxed SiGebuffer.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a vertical channel MOSFET.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained Si/SiGesurface channel nMOSFET according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained Si/SiGesurface channel nMOSFET with a diffusion barrier layer containing carbonand a composite source comprising a strained silicon layer and a relaxedSiGe layer or poly silicon or poly SiGe layer according to the secondembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained Si/SiGeburied channel nMOSFET with a diffusion barrier layer containing carbonand a composite source comprising a strained silicon layer and a relaxedSiGe layer or poly silicon or poly SiGe layer according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained SiC/Sisurface channel nMOSFET according to the forth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained SiC/Sisurface channel nMOSFET with a diffusion barrier layer containing carbonand a composite source region consisting of a strained SiC layer and arelaxed silicon layer or poly silicon or poly SiGe layer according tothe fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional schematic of a vertical strained Si/SiGesurface channel nMOSFET which has a heterojunction at both source anddrain junctions according to the sixth embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The lattice spacing of carbon, silicon and germanium are 3.567 Å, 5.431Å and 5.646 Å, respectively. Biaxial tensile strain exists inpseudomorphic SiC on relaxed Si, or in pseudomorphic Si on relaxed SiGeor Ge substrate, which means the larger lattice spacing in the growthplane (surface) and smaller lattice spacing in the growth direction(normal to the surface) in the pseudomorphic material. On the otherhand, compressive strain exists in pseudomorphic SiGe on relaxed Si, orin pseudomorphic Ge on relaxed SiGe, which means the smaller latticespacing in the growth plane (surface) and larger lattice spacing in thegrowth direction (normal to the surface) in the pseudomorphic material.Adding a small amount of carbon (<1%) into compressively strained SiGeon relaxed Si can compensate and reduce the strain in SiGe. Strainchanges the band structure of the strained material. Therefore, strainmay affect the energy band offset, effective mass and density of states.Referring to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows the conduction band and valenceband of tensile strained Si_(1-y)C_(y) on relaxed Si buffer layer bycurves 4 and 5, respectively. In this case, electrons are confined inthe tensile strained Si_(1-y)C_(y) which has high electron mobility, andthis material system is suitable for nMOSFETs. Furthermore, FIG. 2 showsthe conduction band and valence band of tensile strained silicon onrelaxed silicon germanium by curves 6 and 7, respectively. Electrons areconfined in the tensile strained silicon which potentially has highelectron mobility, and this material system may be suitable fornMOSFETs. With the two material systems, the channel could be a surfacechannel or a buried quantum well channel. In FIGS. 1-2, the ordinaterepresents energy and the abscissa represents depth.

FIG. 3 shows a top view of a vertical device structure disclosed in thisinvention. FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment.It is a SiGe based vertical nMOSFET 9 comprising a vertical mesa, acolumn, a pedestal, a pillar or a fin comprising several layers, such asa source layer 14, a body layer 13, and a drain layer 12, with a channellayer 15, an insulator layer 16, and a gate electrode layer 17 on thesidewalls of the mesa, column, pedestal, pillar or fin, which may beformed by etching layers 14, 13, and 12. The device has the followingstructural characteristics:

-   -   1) The drain is n⁺-type relaxed SiGe 12;    -   2) The body is epitaxial p-type relaxed SiGe 13, and the doping        level is adjusted to achieve the desirable threshold voltage;    -   3) The source is epitaxial n⁺-type tensile strained Si 14;    -   4) The channel is epitaxial tensile strained Si 15, and there is        no hetero-barrier along the current flow direction shown by        arrows 22 and 23. The channel layer 15 forms a heterojunction        with the body 13 at the interface 8 and functions to provide        band offset as shown in FIG. 2 to confine electrons in the        channel 15. Typically the channel is autodoped by the adjacent        layer by dopant diffusion, such that the channel region 15″ over        the body 13 is p-type, and the channel regions 15′ and 15′″ over        the source 14 and drain 12 are doped n-type.    -   5) A strained Si/SiGe heterojunction is formed between source 14        and body 13 at interface 500, and preferably, aligned with the        source/body metallurgical p/n junction. The off-state current is        reduced because the heterojunction functions to block electrons        from entering body 13, hence reducing the off-state current by        orders of magnitude. The higher the strain in one layer (source        14) of the heterojunction, the higher the energy barrier, the        less the leakage current will be from the source through the        body to the drain when the device is turned off (i.e., off        state).    -   6) The gate is a conducting layer 17 overlapping the entire        strained silicon channel 15 comprising regions 15′, 15″, 15′″        with an insulator 16 in between. The gate extends to or overlaps        part of the source 14 and drain 12. In order to reduce the        gate-to-source/gate-to-drain overlap capacitance, the gate oxide        overlapping the source 14 and the drain 12 can be made thicker        than the oxide overlapping the body 13;    -   7) The drain, source and gate electrodes 19, 20 and 21 are        connected to the drain 12, source 14 and gate 17, respectively;    -   8) Layer 10 and buffer layer 11 function to provide a relaxed        SiGe template for epitaxial growth of drain 12. Layer 10 can be        part of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Layer 10 and 11        may also be bulk Ge, Ge-on-insulator, SiGe-on-insulator, or        silicon-on-sapphire (SOS). A bonded layer of suitable lattice        spacing may be provided in place of substrate 10 and buffer        layer 11.

In the case when the source/drain is phosphorus-doped, phosphorusdiffusion from the source/drain into the channel and the body will tendto short the source and drain in ultra-short channel devices. Adding anepitaxial SiGeC layer 200 and 201 as shown in FIG. 5 can reducephosphorus diffusion. This is the second embodiment of the presentinvention. It is a nMOSFET 24 with a similar structure to the firstembodiment, except that SiGeC layers 200 and 201 are included to blockphosphorus diffusion from layer 12 and 14, respectively. When siliconlayer 14 is highly strained, its critical thickness is rather small. Themore strain in the layer, the thinner is the critical thickness at whichthe stained layer starts to relax. The critical thickness is understoodin the art as a thickness where defects are generated within a layer torelieve its strain so that the layer relaxes towards its natural latticespacing. The lattice spacing is determined by the composition of thelayer as well as the degree of relaxation, which is typically assumed tobe 100%. For example, Ge lattice is 1.04 times the lattice spacing ofsilicon. A 50% Ge composition in a SiGe layer would be expected to havea lattice spacing of 1.02 times the lattice spacing of silicon. In thisembodiment, a relaxed SiGe layer or poly silicon or poly SiGe layer 400is formed on top of strained silicon layer 14, and together they formthe composite source that has sufficient thickness for silicidation.Layer 400 can be as thick as desired while layer 14 has a thicknessbelow or about the critical thickness. When the thickness of SiGeClayers 200, 201, and SiGe 400 are zero, the second embodiment falls backto the first embodiment.

The first two embodiments which are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 have atensile strained silicon surface channel 15. Strain-induced higherelectron mobility gives higher drive current compared to conventional Sichannels. However, for some low noise applications, the surfaceroughness scattering is undesirable and preferably eliminated. In thiscase, a buried quantum well channel is more desirable. As such for aburied channel, electrons are confined as a 2-dimensional gas within thequantum well, and importantly, will be able to maintain its highermobility since there is no surface scattering problem. The crosssectional schematic of the third embodiment of a nMOSFET 26 in thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 6. It has a similar structure to thesecond embodiment, with a buried strained silicon channel 15 which has ahigher mobility due to reduced surface roughness scattering, a SiGe caplayer 700, an insulator layer 16 and a gate electrode layer 17 on thesidewall of the mesa or column or pedestal or pillar or fin, referred toFIG. 6.

The above three embodiments require a relaxed SiGe buffer layer in orderto provide a lattice spacing different from bulk silicon. Typically thisrelaxed SiGe buffer layer is comprised of a relaxed SiGe with constantGe content grown over a linearly or step graded SiGe structure.

In order to circumvent this problem, another hetero-material system maybe used for nMOSFETs. Tensile strained Si_(1-x-y)Ge_(x)C_(y) on siliconalso has the desired conduction band offset, and in this case it doesnot require a relaxed SiGe virtual substrate. The cross sectionalschematic of the fourth embodiment is shown in FIG. 7 for such avertical surface channel device 60. The device has the followingstructure characteristics:

-   -   1) The drain is n⁺-type silicon 62;    -   2) The body is p-type silicon 63, and the doping level is        adjusted to achieve desirable threshold voltage;    -   3) The source is n⁺-type tensile strained Si_(1-x-y)Ge_(x)C_(y)        64;    -   4) The channel is silicon or strained Si_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b) 65,        and there is no hetero-barrier along the current flow direction        shown by arrows 72 and 73;    -   5) A strained Si_(1-x-y)Ge_(x)C_(y)/Si heterojunction is formed        between the source and the body at the interface 600, and        preferably, aligned with the source/body metallurgical p/n        junction;    -   6) The gate is a conducting layer 67 overlapping the entire        channel 65 and part of the source 64 and drain 62 with an        insulator 66 in between;    -   7) Layer 61 may be bulk silicon or SOI substrate (not shown).        Layer 61 and 11 may also be bulk Ge, Ge-on-insulator,        SiGe-on-insulator, SOS.

In order to reduce phosphorus diffusion from the drain into the channelof a nMOSFET 74, SiGeC layer 300 is introduced into the drain as shownin FIG. 8. When SiGeC layer 64 is highly tensile strained, its criticalthickness is rather small. Therefore, a relaxed silicon or poly siliconor poly SiGe or poly SiGeC layer 450 is introduced to form a compositesource such that the source has sufficient thickness for silicidation.When the thickness of SiGeC layer 300 and relaxed silicon or polysilicon or poly SiGe or poly SiGeC layer 450 are zero, the fifthembodiment falls back to the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7.Similarly, a buried strained SiGeC channel device can also be formedwith a silicon cap between the SiGeC channel 65 and insulator 66,analogous to FIG. 6 where a SiGe cap layer 700 is shown between channellayer 15 and insulator layer 16.

Note that the above five embodiments are all asymmetric devices, whichhave a heterojunction only between the source and the body. For certaincircuit applications, such as transmission gate circuits, the devicesare preferred to be symmetric. The sixth embodiment of the presentinvention, shown in FIG. 9, is a surface channel nMOSFET 801. It has asimilar structure to the first embodiment, but has a composite drainwhich comprises a thin strained silicon layer 805 and relaxed SiGe layer12. In this structure, the silicon layers 14 and 805 should and may havethe same amount of strain. Therefore, the heterobarriers at both sourceand drain junctions would have the same height and hence, the device isclose to a symmetric device.

According to the preferred embodiment, this invention further comprisesthe scheme for process integration for a vertical high mobilityheterojunction nMISFET:

-   -   1) Epitaxial growth of a stack of several layers for the drain,        body, and the source with or without in-situ doping;    -   2) Patterning/etching to form a mesa, or pedestal, or pillar, or        column, or fin;    -   3) Epitaxial growth of the channel layer, the cap layer if        desired, on the sidewall of the mesa or pedestal, or pillar, or        column, or fin;    -   4) Growth or deposition of the insulator layer, which may be an        oxide, oxynitride, other high-permittivity dielectrics, or a        combination thereof;    -   5) Growth or deposition of the gate electrode layer, which may        be poly silicon, poly SiGe or metal, on the sidewall of the        mesa, or pedestal, or pillar, or column, or fin;    -   6) Ion implant and annealing if the source, drain, body, or the        poly Si or poly SiGe gate electrode is not in-situ doped;    -   7) Gate patterning and etching;    -   8) Field oxide deposition;    -   9) Contact opening;    -   10) Source/drain silicidation;    -   11) Metallization and metal sintering.

While there has been described and illustrated a semiconductor devicecontaining a high mobility channel and a heterojunction which preferablycoincides with the junction of source and/or drain, it will be apparentto those skilled in the art that modifications and variations arepossible without deviating from the broad scope of the invention whichshall be limited solely by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

1. A strained silicon channel for a vertical field effect transistorcomprising: a substrate having a relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y) (0≦y≦1)epitaxial region and said first region having a doping concentrationgreater than 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³; a relaxed Si_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b) (0≦a≦1,0≦b≦1) epitaxial region over said first relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y)epitaxial region; a p-type Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) (0≦z≦1) epitaxial region oversaid relaxed Si_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b) epitaxial region; a relaxedSi_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f) (0≦e≦1, 0≦f≦1) epitaxial region over said p-typeSi_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region; a strained n-type silicon epitaxialregion over said relaxed Si_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f) epitaxial region having adoping concentration greater than 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³; a vertical structurecomprising at least one sidewall extending from said relaxed n-typeSi_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region, over said region ofSi_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b), over said region of Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) region, oversaid region of Si_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f), and over said region of strainedn-type silicon epitaxial region; and a strained silicon epitaxial regionover a region of said at least one sidewall of said vertical structureextending from said region of Si_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b), over said region ofSi_(1-z)Ge_(z) region, to said region of Si_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f).
 2. Thestrained silicon channel of claim 1, further including: a gatedielectric region over said strained silicon epitaxial region; and aconducting region over said gate dielectric region.
 3. The strainedsilicon channel according to claim 1, wherein said relaxedSi_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b) region is doped n-type in the range from 1×10¹⁶ to1×10²¹ atoms/cm³.
 4. The strained silicon channel according to claim 1,wherein said relaxed Si_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f) region is doped n-type inrange from 1×10¹⁶ to 1×10²¹ atoms/cm³.
 5. The strained silicon channelaccording to claim 1, wherein said strained silicon region comprises anautodoped n-type in a region adjacent to said relaxed n-typeSi_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region and to said strained n-type siliconepitaxial region, while autodoped p-type in a region adjacent to saidp-type Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region.
 6. The strained silicon channelaccording to claim 1, wherein said strained silicon region is grown to athickness less than a critical thickness with respect to a latticespacing of said relaxed SiGe region.
 7. The strained silicon channelaccording to claim 1, further including a relaxed Si_(1-h)Ge_(h) (0≦h≦1)region over said strained n-type silicon epitaxial region, saidSi_(1-h)Ge_(h) doped n-type to a concentration level greater than 1×10¹⁹atoms/cm³, and wherein said vertical structure has at least one sidewallincluding a portion of said sidewall formed from said region ofSi_(1-h)Ge_(h).
 8. The strained silicon channel according to claim 7,wherein said region comprising poly silicon or poly SiGe.
 9. Thestrained silicon channel of claim 1, further comprising: a relaxedSi_(1-g)Ge_(g) (0≦g≦1) region over said strained silicon regionextending from said region of Si_(1-a-b)Ge_(a)C_(b), over said region ofSi_(1-z)Ge_(z) region, to said region of Si_(1-e-f)Ge_(e)C_(f).
 10. Astrained silicon channel for a vertical field effect transistorcomprising: a substrate having a region and said relaxed n-typeSi_(1-y)Ge_(y) (0≦y≦1) epitaxial region having a doping concentrationgreater than 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³; a n-type strained silicon epitaxialregion over said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region; ap-type Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) (0≦z≦1) epitaxial region over said strained n-typesilicon epitaxial region; a strained n-type silicon epitaxial regionover said p-type Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region, said strained n-typesilicon epitaxial region having a doping concentration level greaterthan 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³; a vertical structure comprising at least onesidewall extending from said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxialregion over said strained silicon region over said Si_(1-z)Ge_(z)epitaxial region to said strained n-type silicon epitaxial region; and astrained silicon epitaxial region over a region of said at least onesidewall of said vertical structure extending from said relaxed n-typeSi_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region over said strained silicon region oversaid Si_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region to said strained n-type siliconepitaxial region.
 11. The strained silicon channel of claim 10, furtherincluding: a gate dielectric region over said strained silicon epitaxialregion; and a conducting region over said gate dielectric region. 12.The strained silicon channel according to claim 11, wherein said gatedielectric region is selected from the group consisting of an oxide,nitride, oxynitride of silicon, and oxides and silicates of Hf, Al, Zr,La, Y, Ta, singly or in combination.
 13. The strained silicon channelaccording to claim 11, wherein said conducting region is selected fromthe group consisting of a metal, metal silicide, a doped poly siliconand a doped poly SiGe.
 14. The strained silicon channel of claim 10,further comprising: a blanket dielectric region over and above saidvertical structure; a conducting via through said blanket dielectricregion in electrical contact to said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y)epitaxial region; a conducting via through said blanket dielectricregion in electrical contact to said fourth strained n-type siliconepitaxial region; and a conducting via through said blanket dielectricregion in electrical contact to said conducting region.
 15. The strainedsilicon channel according to claim 10, further comprising: aSi_(1-x)Ge_(x) (0≦x≦1) epitaxial region having a germanium profilecontent selected from the group consisting of a linear graded germaniumcontent x and a step graded germanium content x.
 16. The strainedsilicon channel according to claim 10, wherein said second n-typesilicon epitaxial region is strained with respect to the upper surfaceof said first relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region.
 17. Thestrained silicon channel according to claim 10, wherein said p-typeSi_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region is relaxed with respect to an uppersurface of said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y) epitaxial region.
 18. Thestrained silicon channel according to claim 10, wherein said verticalstructure is formed by one of reactive ion etching and ion beam milling.19. The strained silicon channel according to claim 10, wherein said atleast one sidewall of said vertical structure is in a plane (100), andperpendicular to a major surface of said substrate.
 20. The strainedsilicon channel according to claim 10, wherein said strained siliconepitaxial region on said at least one sidewall of said verticalstructure is strained with respect to said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y)epitaxial region.
 21. The strained silicon channel according to claim10, wherein said strained silicon epitaxial region is doped n-type inthe respective regions adjacent to said relaxed n-type Si_(1-y)Ge_(y)epitaxial region and said strained n-type silicon epitaxial region,while autodoped p-type in the region adjacent to said p-typeSi_(1-z)Ge_(z) epitaxial region.
 22. The strained silicon channelaccording to claim 10, wherein said strained silicon region is grown toa thickness less than a critical thickness with respect to a latticespacing of said relaxed SiGe region.